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Zambia: a walk in the wilderness

The adventure started when we spotted our little plane at Lusaka airport. British Airways from Heathrow overnight was like any other long-haul flight, but when we stepped out into the bright morning sunlight and saw our young pilot, Greg, from Skytrails, waiting for us by his tiny single-propeller plane, the real journey began. The plane had exciting stencilled creatures decorating it – a shoebill, a crocodile, an elephant.

Reviving sundowners at Chikoko

Greg may have been apprehensive about his cargo of four British ladies of a certain age: on paper we looked formidable. But he cheered up as we clambered up and piled in, our strictly weight-rationed bags crammed in the hold. We were clearly game for anything. He showed me how to shut the door, and I sat by myself at the back, hoping it stayed shut, and peered down at the huge landscape, at brown woodland and red earth and sage-green grassland and riverbeds and villages and dambos and drying cassava.

This was Zambia again, a country I had longed to revisit. I first saw the Luangwa Valley in 1981 with the legendary Norman Carr as my mentor, when he was persuading the Zambians to educate their children to cherish wildlife. I have never forgotten the impression of abundance. But our first stop, Wasa Lodge in Kasanka National Park, was new to me, though two of our group had been there years ago when it was hardly on the tourist route. Kasanka National Park is still remote and simple and the camp was enchanting. We were greeted with the best coffee in the country, then shown to our round clay huts for a shower.

Refreshed, we sat on the veranda overlooking the lake, listening to the hippo snorting close to us in the reeds, watching great kites and eagles circling overhead and jacanas and egrets and storks picking their way delicately through the marshy verge. Puku and the shy semi-amphibious sitatunga grazed on the wooded island over the lagoon.

The scene is peaceful and timeless. You can just sit and gaze and listen as the frog chorus grows louder with the night, or you can go on a drive to see the crocodile in the river, or climb into a hide to watch the spectacular evening arrival of the straw-coloured fruit bats, or walk around the lake in the morning while your guide explains the trees, bushes and insects.

Evening meals of patties and pizza and fruit crumble are accompanied in these small, intimate camps by gripping conversations. These days you are much less likely to find rowdy confrontations with big game hunters, more likely to find keen birders (at Kasanka, two dashing young Mexican-American brothers with wild tales of hostage-taking in Mexico City) or hardy fellow women ramblers from Britain. Campfire stories before an early night and a very early breakfast are part of the experience.

One of the walkers recommended Tim Butcher's Blood River, a powerful account of following Henry Morton Stanley's route through the Congo, which I read when I got home. Stanley's Congo journey was supported by The Daily Telegraph, and so was Butcher's. They were both lucky to survive. Greg flew us over the Congo pedicle, that strange boot that sticks down into its south-eastern neighbour, but that's all we saw of it. Zambia is much more stable and peaceable than the Congo and throughout our trip we were made to feel very safe – despite the fact that the advertising material for Remote Africa Safaris, under whose umbrella we travelled, does promise "Dangerous Animals, High Risk".

The Zambian people we met were friendly and sociable, sitting around the fire with their guests, telling their village stories of farming maize and cassava when the tourist season ends and frightening elephants off their crops by banging saucepan lids. The elephants, once much poached for ivory, are doing almost too well here – magnificent but destructive, they ravage hundreds of miles of woodland, and, as one of our party remarked censoriously, they eat very wastefully. Their digestive system, as their dung manifests, is very inefficient.

We followed not Stanley but Livingstone, visiting the obelisk which marks where he died in 1873, and very nearly being presented to the allegedly moody Prince Chitambo, descendant of the chief of the village. After rehearsing elaborate court protocol and a long wait in the intense heat we gave up on him, and drove back to the lodge. The road was lined with schoolchildren with their bags of books, waving, smiling, looking happy and well and not at all moody. And on our return, we found that pilot, Greg, learning that one of us was a vegetarian, had caught a fish for supper. He is a man of many parts.

Our next stop was the tree camp at Chikoko, inaccessible by road, but alarmingly accessible to lion, elephant and howling baboon, had they chosen to visit us. It was a hot walk from the river crossing and later we all confessed that we had been nearly done in. The temperature was around 110F (43C), and although the distances we walked were not great, the ground was uneven baked mud and it was tough going. Later we discovered that there is usually a short cut, if you moan enough.

But the accommodation at Chikoko, when we reached it, was delightful, with rickety wooden steps leading up to a bedroom with a glorious open view. We were revived with rehydrating salts, followed by beer and an elaborate meal cooked in the simplest wood oven – it's just a hole in the ground – where the jovial chef Patson proudly bakes bread, makes cakes and puddings, grills meat. He loves his timeless bush kitchen.

Did you know?

The black rhino was declared extinct in Zambia in the Nineties, but they are being reintroduced

Our last stop was Tafika, on the banks of the Luangwa, owned and run by the Coppingers, founders of a Remote Africa Safaris (see Packages, below). It is luxurious and refined, in terms of comfort and cuisine, and the game here is extraordinarily plentiful, as it was in Livingstone's day. We saw stately elegant, nonchalant giraffe, herds of buffalo and elephant, innumerable hippo (and one stinkingly dead one), antelopes of many species, zebra, warthogs, birds beyond counting or description, and all living free, all leading their own intermingled lives. One of the strangest sights was a salt pan of wild dogs and cubs, not the prettiest of mammals, attended by a glorious flock of picture-postcard green love birds, the weirdest of juxtapositions.

There have been bad patches in Zambia's history of conservation since I first visited, but today the scene looks hopeful and some of those children inspired by Norman Carr have grown into well-trained and very articulate guides who taught us a great deal. With the exception of the rhino which has vanished (I saw one of the last with Norman) most other species flourish. I cannot imagine that anywhere else in Africa provides such natural plenty. Zambia is an earthly paradise.

Getting there

British Airways (0844 493 0787; britishairways.com) flies to Lusaka from Heathrow from around £654 in March. Air transfers to Kasanka are operated by Lusaka-based Skytrails (00260 216 245268; skytrails zambia.com), but most of the camps offer road transfers. Internal airport taxes are $11/£7 per person from Lusaka to Kasanka and from Mfuwe back to Lusaka. Zambian visas cost $50/£32 per person and can be obtained on arrival.

Packages

Margaret Drabble travelled with Expert Africa (020 8232 9777; expertafrica.com), which puts together a 10-night/11-day trip with two nights’ full board at Wasa Lodge, The Old Manor House, Chikoko Tree Camp, Tafika and one night’s b & b at Taj Pamodzi Hotel in Lusaka, from £5,210 per person, including return flight, transfers to camps, safari activities and house drinks while on safari. Expert Africa offers a range of other safaris to the area, including an eight-night Hippo Safari, staying at four camps, from £3,264 per person, based on two sharing.

Remote Safaris (remoteafrica.com) runs four isolated camps (see below) in the Luangwa Valley. Each camp has been built by local villagers and employs around 90 staff across all four camps.

When to go

Camps are open between May and the end of October, during Zambia’s dry season. Game viewing is good between May and August and temperatures are comfortable. Viewing is even better between September and October but it does get very hot then, with temperatures up to 110F (43C).

The inside track

Be aware that internal flights have a baggage allowance of 15kg. They will charge for excess baggage – or cases may even be left behind – so exceed the allowance at your peril. Camps offer a laundry service which helps to keep weight down.

Note that the return flight to the UK leaves early in the morning so you will probably want an overnight stop in Lusaka at the end of the trip.

Malaria is present in the Luangwe Valley so antimalarial medication is recommended.

The valley is dusty in the dry season so don’t forget a blower, brush and cloth to clean your camera lenses. It’s also a good idea to pack gaiters to prevent dry mud and grass seeds from getting into your shoes and socks.

The best accommodation

Wasa Lodge, Kasanka National Park £££ A delightful low-key lodge operated by the Kasanka Trust charity. It comprises three rondavels and six simpler chalets plus a bar and dining room in the main building on the edge of Lake Wasa; it also has its own airstrip. Book through Expert Africa or The Zambezi Safari and Travel Company (kasanka.com; from around £235 per night for full board, including all activities).

Old Manor House, Shiwa Ng’andu, Chinsali £££ The Shiwa Ng’andu estate was built by Sir Stewart Gore-Browne in the early 1900s. The house, library and estate were rescued and restored by his grandson, Charlie, and his wife, Jo, in 1999 and the Old Manor House now offers four comfortable rooms with en-suite bathrooms. Self-drive or guided drive of the surrounding game areas. Book through Expert Africa and Audley Travel (shiwangandu.com; from £260 per night including all meals, drinks and activities on the Shiwa Estate).

Chikoko Tree Camp, South Luangwa National Park £££ A very small walking bushcamp, run by Remote Africa Safaris, overlooking the Chikoko River and reached by foot as there are no roads in or out (porters carry your luggage). Three rustic chalets, with bedrooms open on one side; all have a lavatory and shower but no electricity. Meals are rustled up in the camp’s bush kitchen and usually taken outside. Book through Remote Africa Safaris, Expert Africa or Africa Odyssey (remoteafrica.com; from £304 per night, including all meals and activities).

Tafika, South Luangwe National Park ££££ Another of the camps run by Remote Africa Safaris, and the most sophisticated locally in terms of accommodation and food. Six well-furnished chalets, with double beds and outdoor showers. Book through Remote Africa Safaris or Expert Africa (remoteafrica.com; from £344 per night for full board, including road transfers, bar, laundry and all game viewing).